Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that Nigeria might be sitting on a keg of gunpowder, praying that government do the right thing before it’s too late.
According to Obasanjo during an interview with the Financial Times, Nigeria youth are restive because they have no skill,They have no empowerment and they have no employment.
“We are all sitting on a keg of gunpowder. And my prayer is that we will do the right thing before it’s too late,” he warned.
The elder statesman’s stance comes following ongoing #Endbadgovernance nationwide protests by the youths over hunger and hardship in the country.
Youths across the country have embarked on protests since August 1, a development which has since escalated with reports and incidences of violence and lootings recorded across the country.
Speaking further, Obasanjo said Nigeria’s economy would have been much better if it had not relied on just crude oil production.
He described the country’s reliance on crude oil as a “deadly mistake”.
“I believe we made a deadly mistake by putting all our eggs in one basket by relying on oil. We had a very important commodity, gas, but we were flaring it,” he said.
the failure of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), the International Oil Companies, and other national oil companies to ramp up oil production to meet the country’s needs.
Obasanjo said Nigeria could have invested more in Agriculture as against crude oil.
“We ignored Agriculture which could have been the centrepiece of our investment.”
